Pre-arbitration
The third round of a card dispute, where issuer and acquirer get one last chance to settle before the card network rules on it and charges for the privilege.
A chargeback runs to a fixed script. The issuer pulls the money back, the merchant answers with a representment, and if the issuer still isn't convinced it can escalate to pre-arbitration. The case goes back to the acquirer with fresh arguments or new evidence, and the merchant has a choice: accept the loss, or let it go to arbitration at Visa or Mastercard.
Arbitration is expensive in a way that shapes decisions. The network bills the loser a fee of several hundred dollars, so a disputed fifty-dollar sale is almost never worth fighting to the end. Pre-arbitration is therefore really a negotiation in which both sides work out who has more to lose. Visa's 2018 overhaul of its dispute process shortened the deadlines and pushed more of the flow into automated rules.